Thursday, February 5, 2015

The Nude In Vogue / Part I

When I first saw this cover of Vogue Russia’s special edition ‘The Nude In Vogue’ my jaw dropped. It’s impossible that such an edition would be published in America — even if the presidential election has ended. America’s social conservatives would bust into Anna Wintour’s office and set her on fire — preparing to burn her at the stake like in the Salem Witch trials.

So the Russians have done something the Americans would not. While Carine Roitfeld would delight in such a project, there is no way that present day editor-in-chief Emmanuelle Alt would undertake such an endeavor.

Helmut Newton may be the master of female eroticism and nudity, but many photographers have interpreted nudity and sensuality within their own distinct vocabulary. If I’m not mistaken ‘The Nude In Vogue’ has no female photographers, and it is an omission worth noting. At AOC, we are devoted to having a relevant and honest confrontation with our bodies, the world of fashion and its influence on our self-image, and also flogging and the world of sexual politics.

I was recently at an art opening and when I mentioned that Anne of Carversville tells women’s stories “from fashion to flogging”, he said “You mean BDSM?” Sighing, I said “no”. I speak of the 40,000 women flogged each year in a certain country that will be nameless this moment lest I corrupt their cause in Google search with all these images. These women are deemed immoral for wearing trousers that aren’t baggy enough, and are flogged by the same crowds of men who oggle and masturbate to images of naked women online.

As women we deal with all these complexities of the male mind, and frequently hang our heads in shame and self-loathing. This is why I’m posting these images in AOC Body. They are all filtered for the search engines, so as not to corrupt young minds or men at work.

Many of my favorites are included in this overview of nudes. Besides Newton, we have Irving Penn, Horst P. Horst, Mario Sorrenti, Herb Ritts and MIkael Jansson. To be honest, I haven’t had time to review all the images in ‘The Nude In Vogue’. I will do so in the coming days and return to this critical subject for women. I want to give a special thanks to ‘The Libertine’ blog for doing what I refused to have my team do. It was a heck of a job to separate all these images from the pdf, so thanks Libertine. We’ve divided the editorial overview into three parts.